Everyone in school thinks Jake, Hayley, and Felix are normal, but that’s not really the case. The truth: they’re part of a secret global society known as The Troop. Their mission: to keep the world's monster population under control. Can these three high school kids keep the town safe -- and keep everyone else from finding out?

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

MUMBAI: To celebrate the tenth anniversary of its SpongeBob SquarePants property, Nickelodeon UK has produced a live-action Bollywood-style two-minute film, Bollywood Bob that is choreographed by Slumdog Millionaire's Longinus Fernandes.

The film, also developed in a shorter 30-second advertisement format, has started airing across Nickelodeon UK network starting 14 November, with back-to-back episodes of SpongeBob SquarePants all weekend.

Bollywood Bob will then be shown across the global Nickelodeon network. The 30-second version is scheduled to run in Vue and Cineworld cinemas nationwide from 13 November to January 1 next year around seasonal releases such as A Christmas Carol, Planet 51, Where the Wild Things Are, Alvin and the Chipmunks II and St Trinians 2.

Bollywood Bob, produced by Nickelodeon UK in collaboration with Nickelodeon International and Nickelodeon India creative teams tells the story of Rohan, who tentatively enters a magnificent palace in the heart of Bollywood territory (just outside Mumbai) to present a King with a golden sponge.

As he accepts the sponge a spectacular dance, involving his entire court, ensues.

The film also includes a Bangra-style SpongeBob theme song arranged by Akbar Sami and Firoze Patel.

Said Nickelodeon UK's VP creative director Peter Drake, "Bollywood Bob is the genuine global culmination of 'Year of the Sponge.' It is the most spectacular expression of regional cultures' celebration and love of SpongeBob, and furthers his credibility as a lifestyle icon."

"This unique work pushes the boundaries and challenges the norm, extending SpongeBob appeal way beyond the core Nickelodeon audience. He is one of the few animation characters that can do this so effectively," he added.

Thursday, July 30, 2009

Nickelodeon is undergoing its biggest makeover in 25 years.The kids' cabler and its sister nets will unveil a new logo scheme in fall to replace its "splat" identity -- which was first introduced in 1984.

Branding will connect Nickelodeon, Nick at Nite, Nicktoons, Nick Jr. (formerly Noggin) and TeenNick (formerly the N), all of which will use similar-looking lower-case logos.

According to Cyma Zarghami, prexy of Nick and MTV Networks' Kids and Family Group, the decision to streamline the network identities came after they started putting all of the channels' logos on the same business card -- and decided that it looked like a mess.

"We wanted to clean it up and allow Nick to be the stamp on all of these channels," she said.

That ultimately meant jettisoning the familiar Nickelodeon "splat."

"In asking ourselves if everything could live under the splat, we decided that the splat was dated," she said. "It just couldn't be done in a streamlined way."

Decision to update comes as Nickelodeon celebrates its 30th anniversary. It also comes as Nick rebrands Noggin into Nick Jr. and the N into TeenNick in September -- putting "Nick" into all of its channels' names for the first time.

"With Nick turning 30, it felt like this was the year (for an update)," Zarghami said.

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

According to reports, Nickelodeon recently launched a brand new Nickelodeon logo in June 2009, which uses a brand new font typeface. The following image of the brand new Nickelodeon logo was originally posted in Toon Zone's Nicktoons Forum (click on the image below to view the full-sized image):Nickelodeon has already started using the new Nickelodeon logo on the packaging of upcoming Nickelodeon DVD releases, as well as on the Nickelodeon Animation Festival 2009 logo, in the Nickelodeon Rewind iTunes store, on a invitation to Nickelodeon staff for an advanced screening for Nickelodeon's upcoming new CGI Nicktoon, Fanboy & Chum Chum, and on the Nickelodeon Getaway logo.

Nickelodeon has yet to confirm whether the new Nickelodeon logo will be used on air (as part of Nickelodeon's idents, bumpers and DOGs (Digital On-screen Graphics)/BUGs), and whether Nickelodeon's Nicktoons Network, TeenNick and Nick Jr channels (Nickelodeon's TeenNick and Nick Jr channels are scheduled to launch in September 2009, with TeenNick replacing The N and Nick Jr replacing Noggin) will be getting brand new logos to go with the design of the new Nickelodeon logo, however, Nickelodeon is expected to fully launch the brand new Nickelodeon logo in September 2009.

It is also unknown whether Nickelodeon UK and Nickelodeon's other international channels will start to use the new Nickelodeon logo branding as well.

Friday, July 10, 2009

Nickelodeon will take on rival Disney in the teen and tween girls market with a major new UK sitcom and the launch of a young-skewing daily T4-style strand.

RDF Kids is making a 20 x 30-minute live action series under the working title Frankentwins, which has been conceived by My Parents are Aliens creator Andy Watts. TX is planned for 2010.

Nickelodeon managing director Howard Litton told Broadcast: “It used to be Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network doing battle for the top spot but now it’s Disney. To me, this is about trying to compete with the iCarlys or the Hannah Montanas of this world, but with UK originations. Genie in the House did well, but it still hasn’t reached those sorts of levels. Working with Andy Watts and RDF is us taking the next step up.”

The channel is also poised to launch the Teenick strand at the end of this month, fronted by Olly Murray and targeting girls aged between 10 and 14. Produced inhouse, it will air between 5pm and 7pm, seven days a week, and will host pop acts and LA features, as well as visits to UK events such as Camp Bestival. Currently, the strand is commissioned to the end of September but will be made permanent if it is successful.

Meanwhile, the broadcaster has tied its longstanding Nicktrition healthy eating strand to the government’s Change For Life campaign - commissioning its in-house team to produce two extra spots and to rebrand the 14 existing ones to feature both campaign logos.

Litton said the government has not invested any funds in the project, but that he hoped a commercial relationship would follow. “It’s a good thing to do and we believe in demonstrating the commitment first,” he said.

Litton also pledged to continue investing in UK-originated content for younger audiences on Nick Jr.

UK kids network Nickleloden is launching a new live-action series and a daily teen and tween strand in a bid to retain its older viewers.

Frankentwins (20x30'), from RDF Media, follows a family's move to Transylvania. The show was created by My Parents Are Aliens creator Andy Watts and is set for a 2010 launch.

Speaking at the network's autumn/winter schedule launch last night, MD Howard Litton said 16 series will return to the channel. All of the shows, including iCarly and True Jackson, will feature new episodes. Seven new programmes are also set to make their debut.

Litton said the live-action programming was about keeping connected to "the slightly older end" of the channel's audience.

"It's about the teen and tween audiences that we've always done well with on Nickelodeon. But now want to take it up a notch," he said.

Seemingly set on going head-to-head with Disney, Litton said: "ICarly is a phenomenon in the states. There's been a lot of press about (the show's star) Miranda Cosgrove being the next, or bigger than, Hannah Montana. So getting new episodes of that in the fourth quarter is going to be great for us."

Nickelodeon is also set to launch a new strand called Teenick towards the end of July, targeting tween girls and featuring pop acts, fashion and news. Produced in-house, the strand will run from 17.00 to 19.00, hosted by Olly Murray.

In its Nicktoons strand, the channel has acquired Marvel Animation's The Super Hero Squad Show (26x30'), featuring a stylised renditioning of the publisher's characters fighting to save Super Hero City.

And maintaining its commitment to public service responsibilities, the broadcaster has linked its healthy-eating Nicktrition strand to the UK government's Change For Life campaign. Nickelodeon has commissioned its in-house team to produce two new spots focusing on the importance of a balanced diet.

Award-winning UK animated series Grizzly Tales, which originally aired on ITV, is being reinvented for Nickelodeon UK.

Twenty-six new 11-minute episodes have been devised based on the series of books written by Jamie Rix (Not Going Out, The Revenge Files of Alistair Fury).

As in the original series, Grizzly Tales will be narrated by Nigel Planer (The Young Ones, Hairspray).

The new series will be broadcast in 2011, preceded by re-runs of the 79 original episodes in 2010.

The original six series ran from 2000 to 2006 on ITV1 and are based on the original book Grizzly Tales for Gruesome Kids. It is co-exec produced and directed by Sara and Simon Bor and will be distributed by ITV Global Entertainment.

Tuesday, June 30, 2009

According to AGB Nielsen Media Research, Nickelodeon UK will be launching a brand new channel on Sky called NickToons Replay on Monday 20th July 2009.

NickToons Replay will be a one hour timeshift channel for the main NickToons channel and will air what's on the main NickToons channel one hour later, similar to Nickelodeon UK's one hour timeshift channel called Nick Replay.

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Below is a high quality streaming video of one of Nickelodeon UK's brand new idents titled "Nickelodeon Turntable" which is from Nickelodeon UK's 2009 rebrand, which Nickelodeon UK premiered on Saturday 7th March 2009. The video was uploaded to the Vimeo video sharing service by Vimeo member Jimmy Johansson:

Below is a high quality streaming video of one of Nickelodeon UK's brand new idents titled "Nickelodeon Magnifying Glass" which is from Nickelodeon UK's 2009 rebrand, which Nickelodeon UK premiered on Saturday 7th March 2009. The video was uploaded to the Vimeo video sharing service by Vimeo member Jimmy Johansson:

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Below is a high quality streaming video of one of Nickelodeon UK's brand new idents titled "Nickelodeon Bubbleplanet" which is from Nickelodeon UK's 2009 rebrand, which Nickelodeon UK premiered on Saturday 7th March 2009. The video was uploaded to the Vimeo video sharing service by Vimeo member Jimmy Johansson:

Below is a high quality streaming video of one of Nickelodeon UK's brand new idents titled "Nickelodeon Tracks" which is from Nickelodeon UK's 2009 rebrand, which Nickelodeon UK premiered on Saturday 7th March 2009. The video was uploaded to the Vimeo video sharing service by Vimeo member Jimmy Johansson:

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Nickelodeon UK is being handed a new on-air look that will then be rolled out to the company's other international channels.

The rebrand was devised by Peter Drake, vice-president of Nickelodeon UK, and creative and art director Akin Akinsiku. It was an 18-month project and blends live action with 3D animation to unify reality and fantasy.

Drake told Broadcast that the concept behind the channel's new look was "to make connections with real-world situations but then to transfer them into the world of a child's imagination".

There will also be only one version of the channel's signature 'splat' logo: at present there are several. The new logo will roll out online as well as on screen.

All the 3D work was created and produced at Mainframe by a team led by Adam Jenns. The sound design was done by Ian Chatham at Blue Post Production and the music created by Blasé Music.

The redesign, which was produced in the UK, will air here on 7 March before it is rolled out internationally. The channel was last rebranded three years ago. There are no plans as yet to rebrand the channel's sister station Nick Jr.

Nickelodeon UK kicks off its spring season with The Elephant Princess on 20 February.

The 13 x 30-minute Shiff Productions series is about an ordinary teenage girl who discovers that she has magical powers and is the heir to the throne of the enchanted kingdom of Manjipoor.